2 omicron cases detected in Odisha

At least two people in Odisha have tested positive for the omicron variant of COVID-19, the first cases of the latest version of coronavirus in the state, officials said on Tuesday.

Bhubaneswar-based Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) confirmed the existence of the variant in the two patients after conducting the genome sequencing of 12 samples.

Both of them have travel history to foreign nations - Nigeria and Qatar, they said.

The returnee from the African country is fully vaccinated, and is stable in hospital, Cuttack District COVID-19 Nodal Officer Umesh Ray said.

All his contacts have tested negative, he added.

The other patient is also stable in hospital.

Since the outbreak of the latest variant, 8,800 people arrived in Odisha from different countries, including 1,600 from “at-risk” nations, the officials said.

“It was expected that omicron would make its way to the state. However, there is no need to panic as the new variant has mild symptoms on the patients.” Meanwhile, the state logged 146 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, taking the tally to 10,53,166, the Health Department said.

The death toll rose to 8,445 after a 71-year-old woman of Khurda district succumbed to the pathogen. Fifty-three other COVID patients have died due to comorbidities so far, a bulletin stated.

Khurda district, of which state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, registered the highest number of new infections at 72, followed by 14 in Cuttack.

Twenty-five children are among the newly infected patients, it said.

The state now has 1,792 active cases, with Kandhamal and Keonjhar having none.

Altogether 174 patients recuperated from the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the number of recoveries to 10,42,875 so far.

The state conducted 52,434 tests for COVID-19 on Monday and the positivity rate was 0.28 per cent.

More than 2.87 crore people have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and around 1.89 crore beneficiaries got the second jab in the state.